This invention generally relates to image processing apparatus and methods and more particularly relates to an imaging apparatus capable of forming an image consistent with type of imaging consumable loaded therein, and method of assembling the apparatus.
A typical image processing apparatus may be a photoprocessing or printing apparatus that forms a high-quality image from an image source onto a viewable medium. An image source for a high-quality image can be an exposed roll of film or digital data obtained from a scanner, digital camera, graphics art software system, electrophotographic system or other digital source. The print operation may use inkjet technology, a thermal printhead, or exposure means (such as conventional light exposure, a laser, an LED, or a scanning CRT).
To provide its output image, the image processing apparatus uses one or more of the following consumables: paper, film, cardboard, textile, or other media on which the image is printed, including photosensitive media (paper or film) where the image is written using radiant exposure energy; chemicals, such as developer, fixer, and bleach solutions used in photoprocessing; inks and cleaning fluids used in inkjet printers; toners; ribbons, including thermal print ribbons; and laminates used to prepare or preserve the printed surface before or after imaging.
For high-quality imaging, particularly when accurate color reproduction is important, customers who operate image processing apparatus desire to optimize processing variables to obtain the best image quality and to reduce waste. To achieve this result, image processing apparatus typically includes a front-end computer that can adjust operational variables during printing.
The consumables used in imaging systems of this type are manufactured to high quality standards, with sensitometry, formulations, and other variables maintained to within tight tolerances. Included in the tolerance considerations are margins for worst-case conditions that might affect performance of the consumables. For example, the manufacturer of the consumable often does not know beforehand the specific type of imaging apparatus by manufacturer and model into which a consumable will be loaded. Similarly, the manufacturer must allow for numerous possible consumable batch interactions. For example, in the case of a photoprocessing minilab, a specific batch of photosensitive paper manufactured today could be processed using a specific batch of chemicals manufactured several months previously. Batch-to-batch variations with color film, photosensitive color paper, and chemicals are known to exist and different batches can interact in different ways, thereby affecting image quality.
Today, manufacturers are constrained to tight tolerances and higher costs due, in part, to such worst-case conditions. At the same time, however, a significant amount of testing and data-gathering is routinely performed on each manufactured batch of consumable. This type of detailed information about each batch, if it were available to customers who own and operate imaging equipment, could be used to meet the customers desire to optimize performance of the image processing apparatus using these consumables.
Today, conventional process control strategies employ feedback data obtained largely from control strips or test prints generated by the image processing apparatus. Measurements from control strips or test prints show the results of the completed imaging process, allowing response adjustments that are a reaction to process variation. However, such reactive methods for process control do not provide effective ways to take advantage of data obtained from testing during consumables manufacture. Instead, conventional methods only use data obtained after processing. It would be advantageous to be able to use data obtained during consumables manufacture in order to predict process results prior to processing. Methods for obtaining up-to-date information on consumables loaded in an apparatus would help to provide an improved measure of control of the operation of a photoprocessing or printing apparatus. However, there is no practical method for providing this type of data regarding consumables supplied to customers who operate photoprocessing or printing apparatus, which data would allow such apparatus to predict and compensate for batch-to-batch interactions.
In particular, the owner of a minilab or other photoprocessing apparatus pays close attention to image quality and is encouraged to follow a set of recommended practices for cleanliness, storage, and stock rotation for consumables. Notably, because of economic and environmental concerns, it is advantageous for manufacturers of minilabs to provide a high degree of control over the processing operation, including providing as much information as is necessary about process variables in order to economically obtain best quality with minimum waste. To facilitate this tight control, many minilabs include front-end computers that act as control processors and provide various sensing and reporting capabilities for the minilab operator. Among example systems that provide this capability are the xe2x80x9cNoritsu QSS-2xxxxe2x80x9d series minilabs manufactured by Noritsu Koki Company, Ltd., located in Wakayama, Japan.
It would be advantageous for the control program that runs in the front-end computer of an image processing apparatus to be able to access information about its loaded consumables. Data such as batch number, date of manufacture, emulsion type (for photosensitive paper), sensitometric information, color transforms, and other application-specific information could be used to facilitate handling and processing of each consumable paper or chemical.
Detailed, batch-specific information about the consumable could be stored with the consumable itself. Results of sensitometric or formulation testing, for example, could be provided with a consumable in a number of ways. Providing printed information on the consumable package or container itself is one option; however, this would constrain the consumables manufacturer to very tight schedules for batch testing and is not easily usable by an operator. Bar-code labeling is another option, but this requires either careful operator procedure (scanning each consumable prior to loading) or multiple readers disposed within the apparatus, one for each consumable package. Bar-codes can store only a limited amount of information. Embedded trace patterns, as disclosed in International Publication Number WO 98/52762 by Purcell, et al., could be used to identify a consumable type. However, this type of data encoding is fairly inflexible with respect to data storage and provides very little information. Another alternative is storage of test and manufacturing information on a memory IC that is integrally attached to the consumable. Integration of a memory with the consumable enables storage of a significant amount of detailed data for the consumable and allows added advantages such as tracking of consumables usage. Each of these solutions offers the capability to store some information about a consumable. However, none of these solutions allow changes to information in instances where new data becomes available after the consumable is manufactured and shipped to the customer. Some of the detailed information may need to be changed or altered for effective use of the consumable. In addition, a manufacturer may even wish to recall a specific batch of consumable.
Imaging apparatus for high-quality imaging are often connected to a network, possibly through an intermediate computer acting as a network server. This connection allows digital image data files to be transferred from other networked computers. Network connection can be made to one or more local (nearby) computers or even to a wide-area network that is accessible to computers in distant parts of the world. Network connection has been widely used for remote diagnostics and to help maintain computer-based devices, including, for example, printers and instruments. Taking advantage of remote networking capabilities such as those provided by the Internet and, more generally, by high-speed telecommunications means, remote diagnostics allow a diagnosing computer to communicate with any networked device to which it has access and to poll that device for status, error codes and conditions, usage counts, and other operational data. In this way, remote diagnostics allow a host diagnosing computer to assist technical support personnel in solving problems reported by customers. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,420 to Matsumoto et al. discloses a remote management system for photographic equipment, including minilabs, that serves as such a diagnostic and information-gathering system. The types of information obtained from the minilab using the methods of U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,420 include densitometry data obtained from a control strip that;is processed on a specific photoprocessing apparatus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,420 also teaches reporting of usage information to assist in inventory control.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,361 to Peterson et al. discloses networked connection of color processing equipment, including minilabs, for the purpose of providing measured process control information from such equipment. Here, densitometer data, obtained from reading control strips processed by the equipment, is made available to a networked host computer for analysis. Correction factors, computed at a remote host computer based on this data, can then be transmitted back to the color processing equipment.
Other networked arrangements for gathering data from remote image processing equipment are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,343,276 and 5,517,282 both issued to Yamashita et al. where usage data (number of copies processed) is obtained from networked equipment for use in scheduling field maintenance visits.
Thus, although it can be seen that there are network arrangements that allow some communication of data from image processing and photoprocessing equipment (including minilabs) with a host computer, these network arrangements focus on obtaining process measurements from control strips and usage data for diagnostic purposes. None of these network arrangements give an automated method to provide specific information to the imaging apparatus on its loaded consumables. Moreover, none of these network arrangements allow the consumables manufacturer to update customers with the latest information on specific batches of consumables being used.
It can therefore be seen that it would be beneficial to provide access, using networked connection, to specific information about the consumables loaded in an image processing apparatus not only for diagnostic purposes, but more importantly, for the purpose of predicting consumables interactions in the image processing apparatus in order to optimize the image quality provided by such an apparatus.
An object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus including an image forming assembly having a network connection to a remote host computer in order to obtain updated imaging information concerning imaging consumables loaded in the apparatus.
With this object in view, the present invention resides in an imaging apparatus capable of forming an image consistent with type of imaging consumable loaded therein, comprising an identifier associated with the consumable, the identifier defining identifier information identifying the type of consumable; an image forming assembly for forming the image according to the identifier information; a data source remotely disposed with respect to the image forming assembly, the data source containing image forming information corresponding to the identifier information; and a telecommunications link linking the identifier to the data source for carrying the identifier information from the identifier to the data source and linking the data source to the image forming assembly for carrying the image forming information from the data source to the image forming assembly, so that the image is formed consistent with the type of the consumable loaded in said image forming assembly.
According to an aspect of the present invention, the imaging apparatus includes memory circuitry that is capable of storing detailed information regarding an imaging consumable to be loaded in the apparatus. In this regard, the imaging apparatus includes a front-end computer. When a new consumable is loaded into the apparatus, a product and batch identification code associated with the consumable is stored on the front-end computer. In a network file transfer operation, the front-end computer transmits the product and batch identification code to a remote host computer. In response, the remote host computer transmits back to the front-end computer a file containing batch-specific processing and manufacture imaging information for using that consumable. The apparatus uses the imaging information to provide a quality image consistent with the type of consumable being used.
In another aspect of the present invention, the apparatus includes a communications link to a remote host computer from an imaging apparatus that is adapted to sense type of consumable loaded therein. In this regard, a radio-frequency transceiver transmits a first electromagnetic field and senses a second electromagnetic field. A transponder, having a non-volatile memory and the image forming information stored in the memory, is mounted on the consumable. The transponder is spaced apart from the radio-frequency transceiver and is capable of receiving the first electromagnetic field from the transceiver and generating a second electromagnetic field in response to the first electromagnetic field received thereby. The second electromagnetic field is characteristic of the image forming information stored in the memory. The apparatus also includes a networked computer which is connected to an image forming assembly and configured to transfer the image forming information associated with the imaging consumable from the image forming assembly to the remote host computer. The networked computer is also configured to transfer the image forming information from the remote host computer to the imaging apparatus.
An advantage of the present invention is that use thereof obviates need for operator entry of data describing the consumable loaded in the apparatus. Instead, use of the invention automates obtaining information identifying the consumable.
Another advantage of the present invention is that use thereof allows control logic in the imaging apparatus to automatically determine the type of consumable that is loaded and to obtain the most recent available data regarding the consumable, such as manufacturing date, batch number, and chemical type.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is that use thereof allows the imaging apparatus to adapt to interacting consumables loaded therein, so that, for example, a media consumable from a first batch can be processed optimally when used with consumable chemicals from a second batch.
A further advantage of the present invention is that use thereof allows a host computer at a remote site to determine which specific consumables are installed in an apparatus. This is useful for consumable inventory tracking. Additionally, the remote computer can also communicate information to the imaging apparatus on product recalls or on use recommendations.